1. Reiki increases positive mental states
87% of people noticed more peace after Reiki 80% noticed more happiness 80% experienced less stress
2. Reiki is culmulative
People who self-Reiki daily experience three times more benefits than those who self-Reiki less than one hour per week.
3. Reiki is successful in helping a wide range of issues
The full report highlights over 200 case studies and personal stories we received from around the world testifying to the efficacy of this therapy.
The Summary:
The following is a summary of the key findings from the Reiki Centre Survey. Please feel free to disseminate any of the report findings provided in this summary as long as this acknowledgement is quoted in full:
Excerpt from The Reiki Centre Survey, 2010
And links back to this page
This survey quantifies aspects of Reiki that have been reported anecdotally by Reiki practitioners over the years. It helps to provide deeper understanding of how the benefits of Reiki are experienced. Of particular focus is the aspect of self-treatment, termed ‘self-Reiki’ in this report.
1.1 Aims of the Survey
The first aim was to identify areas of wellness that respond best to Reiki, be they physical, lifestyle or emotional/mental elements. The second aim was to more deeply understand the key criteria for successfully utilizing Reiki to provide the maximum benefits.
1.2 Key Findings
1. Areas of wellness that respond best to Reiki are emotional/mental elements; specifically increased feelings of contentment, peace, self-love, and happiness; as well as a decrease in negative emotional states such as stress, anxiety, and anger.
2. The key criteria for successfully utilizing Reiki is the amount of self-Reiki administered. Reiki is a cumulative therapy; the more hours of self-Reiki the respondent does, the better the results they report.
1.3 Methodology
The survey went online from January 16th 2010 to March 31st 2010. A total of 546 respondents completed the survey. All responses were collected using the online software provided by www.surveymonkey.com. Survey requests were sent to Reiki Masters asking them to disseminate the information to their students and postings linking to the survey were made on Reiki-related sites, newsletters and social media networks.
This survey was designed to gather personal perceptions and experiences in order to help quantify the benefits of Reiki. To measure the level of improvement perceived, questions relating to the three areas of wellness (ie. lifestyle, physical, and mental/emotional) were answered using a five-point scale:
1. Significantly worse 2. Worse 3. Same as before 4. Improved 5. Improved significantly.
General or lifestyle – for example:
Overall wellness
Diet & nutrition
Exercise
Sleep quality
Smoking
Physical ailments and issues – for example:
Muscle Pain/cramp
Back pain/ problems
Headaches/migraines
Colds/flu
Allergies
Mental/ emotional well being – for example:
Anger
Anxiety/ worry
Stress
Self-love
Peace
Contentment
1.4 Demographics
Please note this survey is not a representative sample of global Reiki practitioners.
Chart 1.4a shows almost half the respondents are trained to level three or Master, a third are level two and 21% are level one.
Chart 1.4b shows half of the respondents have been practicing Reiki for less than four years.
Chart 1.4c shows the majority of respondents practice from one to six hours of Reiki per week.
Chart 1.4d shows the majority of respondents within the 31 to 60 age range.
Chart 1.4e shows the majority of respondents are female.
Chart 1.4f shows that the respondents come mainly from Europe and North America. The questionnaire was only available in English and German.
1.5 Identified areas of wellness that respond best to Reiki
a. Results are seen over a wide variety of measures. Most significantly in the area of mental/emotional wellness, followed by physical wellness and finally in areas of lifestyle. See Chart 1.5 below.
b. Overwhelmingly, respondents notice improvements in overall mental well being which they describe as calm, peace, self-love, and connectedness. Many notice a decrease in negative emotional states such as stress, anxiety, and anger. These improvements happen quickly (within one year of practicing Reiki) and continue to cumulate.
c. With physical ailments (such as colds, migraines, back pain and pain), respondents reported a wide range of success but these aspects appear more arbitrary in results. The physical improvements in health appear to be linked more closely to the amount of self-Reiki the respondent does, ie. the more respondents self-Reiki, the better the results achieved.
d. Lifestyle improvements (for example changes in habits such as smoking, sleep, exercise and dietary improvements) are the most arbitrary and ill defined of all the measures and appear to have an impact for some, and not others. These aspects play only a minor role in the findings of this report.
1.6 The key success criteria for utilizing Reiki
a. Findings show that Reiki is a cumulative therapy; the more hours of self-Reiki the respondent does, the better the results they report. Respondents who report doing self-Reiki daily (7 or more hours per week) achieve on average three times the perceived benefits of a respondent doing self-Reiki for less than 1 hour per week. Overall the respondents using Reiki for less than 1 hour per week are much less likely to notice any change.
Chart 1.6a illustrates this by looking at one of the measurements ‘Overall Wellness’ and plots results by number of hours of self-Reiki per week. There is a clear correlation between number of hours and level of significant improvement perceived by respondents.
b. Reiki continues to provide benefits over time; the longer the respondent has been practicing Reiki, the better the results reported. Respondents who have just started practicing Reiki (less than 1 year) have an average 50/50 chance of seeing an improvement compared with a 70/20 chance if they have been practicing Reiki for over 7 years.
However, the number of hours of self-Reiki per week has a powerful impact, Respondents practicing more self-Reiki notice improvements more quickly. We can hypothesize that doing more hours of self-Reiki can shorten the number of years to achieving significant results, as seen in Chart 1.6b. Due to the sample size, we have combined the hours of usage into two categories: ‘less than 4 hours’, and ‘over 4 hours’.
Note the high level of improvement noted by all respondents (over 70% in all categories noticed an improvement in overall wellness)
c. Other areas of high reported improvements included self-love, peace, and contentment (more than 70% of light users – respondents doing self-Reiki less than 4 hours per week – who had practiced Reiki for less than 1 year noticed improvements). Chart 1.6c illustrates this finding. Note the high reported improvements continue to rise with time. Heavy users reported even higher percentage improvements.
This finding indicates that even moderate levels of self-Reiki can be beneficial for increasing these positive feelings.
d. The level of training does have some bearing on the results; in general the higher the level of training in Reiki, the better the results, but only when comparing similar numbers of hours of self-Reiki practiced. A Reiki Master will not necessarily get better results than a Level One trained respondent if the Level One respondent does more hours of self-Reiki per week, as chart 1.6d illustrates.
Further Recommendations
The results show unequivocally that the majority of respondents benefit from self-Reiki. Most specifically for enhanced peace, calm and balance.
When further studying the effects of Reiki and when presenting Reiki to the medical profession, or when designing clinical trials, it is important to bear in mind the key findings of this survey. Reiki is not primarily a ‘quick fix’ and the most beneficial results are seen after many hours of self-Reiki. Designing further research needs to take into account the many hours of treatment required before meaningful measurements can be taken, and should bear in mind that the overwhelming benefits people derive from Reiki are not medically inclined, but are related to feelings of well being, relaxation and calm.
Reiki could be likened to meditation in terms of its cumulative and long term benefits, and the recommendations of this report is that future research should track Reiki benefits over time, specifically monitoring stress related measures and immunity.
If you would like a copy of the full 74 page report drop me an email!
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